Ultrasonic

machining

Schematic of ultrasonic machining process

An ultrasonic drill from 1955

Ultrasonic machining, or strictly speaking

the "Ultrasonic vibration machining", is a
subtraction manufacturing process that
removes material from the surface of a
part through high frequency, low amplitude
vibrations of a tool against the material
surface in the presence of fine abrasive
particles. The tool travels vertically or
orthogonal to the surface of the part at
amplitudes of 0.05 to 0.125 mm (0.002 to
0.005 in.).[1] The fine abrasive grains are
mixed with water to form a slurry that is
distributed across the part and the tip of
the tool. Typical grain sizes of the abrasive
material range from 100 to 1000, where
smaller grains (higher grain number)
produce smoother surface finishes.[1]

Ultrasonic vibration machining is typically

used on brittle materials as well as
materials with a high hardness due to the
microcracking mechanics.

Process
An ultrasonically vibrating mill consists of
two major components, an electroacoustic
transducer and a sonotrode, attached to
an electronic control unit with a cable. An
electronic oscillator in the control unit
produces an alternating current oscillating
at a high frequency, usually between 18
and 40 kHz in the ultrasonic range. The
transducer converts the oscillating current
to a mechanical vibration. Two types of
transducers have been used in ultrasonic
machining; either piezoelectric or
magnetostrictive:

Piezoelectric transducer: This consists of

a piece of piezoelectric ceramic, such as
barium titanate, with two metal
electrodes plated on its surface. The
alternating voltage from the control unit
applied to the electrodes causes the
piezoelectric element to bend back and
forth slightly, causing it to vibrate.
Magnetostrictive transducer: This
consists of a cylinder of ferromagnetic
material such as steel inside a coil of
wire. Magnetostriction is an effect
which causes a material to change
shape slightly when a magnetic field
through it changes. The alternating
current from the control unit, applied to
the coil, creates an alternating magnetic
field in the magnetostrictive cylinder
 which makes it change shape slightly
with each oscillation, causing it to
vibrate.

The transducer vibrates the sonotrode at

low amplitudes and high frequencies.[2]
The sonotrode is usually made of low
carbon steel.[1] A constant stream of
abrasive slurry flows between the
sonotrode and work piece. This flow of
slurry allows debris to flow away from the
work cutting area. The slurry usually
consists of abrasive boron carbide,
aluminum oxide or silicon carbide
particles in a suspension of water (20 to
60% by volume).[1] The sonotrode removes
material from the work piece by abrasion
where it contacts it, so the result of
machining is to cut a perfect negative of
the sonotrode's profile into the work piece.
Ultrasonic vibration machining allows
extremely complex and non-uniform
shapes to be cut into the workpiece with
extremely high precision.[2]

Machining time depends on the

workpiece's strength, hardness, porosity
and fracture toughness; the slurry's
material and particle size; and the
amplitude of the sonotrode's vibration.[2]
The surface finish of materials after
machining depends heavily on hardness
and strength, with softer and weaker
materials exhibiting smoother surface
finishes. The inclusion of microcrack and
microcavity features on the materials
surface depend highly on the
crystallographic orientation of the work
piece's grains and the materials fracture
toughness.[3]

Material properties, cutting rate and

roughness of various materials subjected
to ultrasonic vibration machining with a
15 μm grit silica carbide slurry.[3]
 Fracture
Young's Static Cutting
Crystalline Toughness
Density Modulus Hardness Rate Ra R
Material
Structure (g/cm3) KIc (μm) (μm
(Gpa) (Gpa) (μm/s)
(MPa•m1/2)

210–
Alumina FCC/polycrystalline 4.0 14–20 3–5 3.8 1.5 10
380

140–
Zirconia Tetragonal/polycrystalline 5.8 10–12 8–10 2.3 1.7 10
210

16.0–
Quartz Trigonal/single crystal 2.65 78.3 0.54–0.52 8.4 1.5 9.6
15.0

Soda-
lime Amorphous 2.5 69 6.3–5.3 0.53–0.43 26.5 2.5 14
glass

Ferrite polycrystalline – ~180 6.8 1 28.2 1.9 11

0.95–
LiF FCC/single crystal 2.43 54.6 1.5 26.5 0.8 4.6
0.89

Mechanics
Ultrasonic vibration machining physically
operates by the mechanism of
microchipping or erosion on the work
piece's surface. Since the abrasive slurry is
kept in motion by high frequency, low
amplitude vibrations the impact forces of
the slurry are significant causing high
contact stresses. These high contact
stresses are achieved by the small contact
area between the slurry's particles and the
work piece's surface. Brittle materials fail
by cracking mechanics and these high
stresses are sufficient to cause micro-
scale chips to be removed from its
surface. The material as a whole does not
fail due to the extremely localized stress
regions. The average force imparted by a
particle of the slurry impacting the work
piece's surface and rebounding can be
characterized by the following equation:
Where m is the mass of the particle, v is
the velocity of the particle when striking
the surface and to is the contact time,
which can be approximated according to
the following equation:

Where r is the radius of the particle, co is

the elastic wave velocity of the work piece,
E is the work pieces Young's Modulus and
ρ is the materials density.[1]

Types
Rotary ultrasonic vibration
machining

In rotary ultrasonic vibration machining

(RUM), the vertically oscillating tool is able
to revolve about the vertical center line of
the tool. Instead of using an abrasive
slurry to remove material, the surface of
the tool is impregnated with diamonds
that grind down the surface of the part.[1]
Rotary ultrasonic machines are specialized
in machining advanced ceramics and
alloys such as glass, quartz, structural
ceramics, Ti-alloys, alumina, and silicon
carbide.[4] Rotary ultrasonic machines are
used to produce deep holes with a high
level of precision.

Rotary ultrasonic vibration machining is a

relatively new manufacturing process that
is still being extensively researched.
Currently, researchers are trying to adapt
this process to the micro level and to allow
the machine to operate similar to a milling
machine.

Chemical-assisted ultrasonic
vibration machining
In chemical-assisted ultrasonic
machining (CUSM), a chemically reactive
abrasive fluid is used to ensure greater
machining of glass and ceramic materials.
Using an acidic solution, such as
hydrofluoric acid, machining
characteristics such as material removal
rate and surface quality can be improved
greatly compared to traditional ultrasonic
machining.[5] While time spent machining
and surface roughness decrease with
CUSM, the entrance profile diameter is
slightly larger than normal due to the
additional chemical reactivity of the new
slurry choice. In order to limit the extent of
this enlargement, the acid content of the
slurry must be carefully selected as to
ensure user safety and a quality product.[5]

Applications
Since ultrasonic vibration machining does
not use subtractive methods that may
alter the physical properties of a
workpiece, such as thermal, chemical, or
electrical processes, it has many useful
applications for materials that are more
brittle and sensitive than traditional
machining metals.[5] Materials that are
commonly machined using ultrasonic
methods include ceramics, carbides,
glass, precious stones and hardened
steels.[1] These materials are used in
optical and electrical applications where
more precise machining methods are
required to ensure dimensional accuracy
and quality performance of hard and brittle
materials. Ultrasonic machining is precise
enough to be used in the creation of
microelectromechanical system
components such as micro-structured
glass wafers.[6]

In addition to small-scale components,

ultrasonic vibration machining is used for
structural components because of the
required precision and surface quality
provided by the method. The process can
safely and effectively create shapes out of
high-quality single crystal materials that
are often necessary but difficult to
generate during normal crystal growth.[3]
As advanced ceramics become a greater
part of the structural engineering realm,
ultrasonic machining will continue to
provide precise and effective methods of
ensuring proper physical dimensions while
maintaining crystallographic properties.

Advantages

Ultrasonic vibration machining is a unique

non-traditional manufacturing process
because it can produce parts with high
precision that are made of hard and brittle
materials which are often difficult to
machine.[1] Additionally, ultrasonic
machining is capable of manufacturing
fragile materials such as glass and non-
conductive metals that can not be
machined by alternative methods such as
electrical discharge machining and
electrochemical machining. Ultrasonic
machining is able to produce high-
tolerance parts because there is no
distortion of the worked material. The
absence of distortion is due to no heat
generation from the sonotrode against the
work piece and is beneficial because the
physical properties of the part will remain
uniform throughout. Furthermore, no burrs
are created in the process, thus fewer
operations are required to produce a
finished part.[7]

Disadvantages

Because ultrasonic vibration machining is

driven by microchipping or erosion
mechanisms, the material removal rate of
metals can be slow and the sonotrode tip
can wear down quickly from the constant
impact of abrasive particles on the tool.[1]
Moreover, drilling deep holes in parts can
prove difficult as the abrasive slurry will
not effectively reach the bottom of the
hole.[7] Note, rotary ultrasonic machining is
efficient at drilling deep holes in ceramics
because the absence of a slurry cutting
fluid and the cutting tool is coated in
harder diamond abrasives.[1] In addition,
ultrasonic vibration machining can only be
used on materials with a hardness value of
at least 45 HRC.[7]

References
1. Kalpakjian, Serope (2008). Manufacturing
Processes for Engineering Materials. Upper
Saddle River, NJ 07458: Pearson Education,
Inc. pp. 552–553. ISBN 0-13-227271-7.
2. "Ultrasonic Machining" .
www.ceramicindustry.com. Retrieved
2016-02-12.
3. Guzzo, P. L.; Shinohara, A. H.; Raslan, A.
A. "A comparative study on ultrasonic
machining of hard and brittle materials" .
Journal of the Brazilian Society of
Mechanical Sciences and Engineering. 26
(1): 56–61. doi:10.1590/S1678-
58782004000100010 . ISSN 1678-5878 .
4. Sundaram, M (2009). Micro rotary
ultrasonic machining. 37. Dearborn, MI:
Society of Manufacturing Engineers. p. 1.
ISBN 9780872638624. ISSN 1047-3025 .
5. Choi, J. P.; Jeon, B. H.; Kim, B. H. (6
March 2007). "Chemical-assisted ultrasonic
machining of glass" . Journal of Materials
Processing Technology. Advances in
Materials and Processing Technologies,
July 30th – August 3rd 2006, Las Vegas,
Nevada. 191 (1–3): 153–156.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.03.017 .
Retrieved 1 October 2016.
6. "Ultrasonic Machining" . Bullen
Ultrasonics. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
7. Jagadeesha, T (2014). "Ultrasonic
Machining" (PDF). Non Tradition Machining
– National Institute of Technology Calicut.
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=Ultrasonic_machining&oldid=861917585"

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